New to DVD: Week of Aug. 30

The Disney hit 'The Jungle Book' will be released on digital HD Aug. 23 and Blu-ray Aug. 30.

★★★★

‘The Jungle Book’

This live-action remake of Disney’s 1967 cartoon features stunning digital special effects, thrilling action scenes and charming musical moments. A real winner. Every animal — tigers, bears, wolves, panthers, snakes, orangutans and elephants — you see on screen are digital creations. But those digital creations are so realistic — down to the way the animals fur gently sways in the breeze — you’ll be hard pressed not to believe the creatures aren’t living and breathing right up there on the screen. Director Jon Favreau and his screenwriter Justin Marks do a good job of weaving in a couple of Sherman Brothers’ songs — including “The Bare Necessities” — from the 1967 animated movie into the story. The result is a movie that will captivate children and their parents equally. In fact, after seeing “The Jungle Book,” parents with particularity impressionable children might want to remind them that real panthers, wolves, and bears aren’t as friendly and cuddly in real life.

This tearjerker , based on the JoJo Moyes bestseller, finds Emilia Clarke as a young woman caring for Sam Claflin, who plays a quadriplegic who wants to kill himself. Cliched and predictable. Like “The Fault in Our Stars” (aimed at a younger audience), “Me Before You” is enjoyable in places, and Claflin eventually gives his character some depth beyond simply being angry. But the film exists mostly as a tear-production delivery system, with a little nod toward uncomfortable moral questioning — Will’s evident belief that death is preferable to live as a quadriplegic. But all that takes a back seat to mining your sobs. Bring the tissues. And guard your shins.

DVD extras: Outtakes, deleted scenes.

★★★☆

‘The Phenom’

Baseball drama features terrific performances, particularly by star Johnny Simmons, playing a rookie player in therapy to discover the reason for a recent meltdown. Instead, the movie immediately thrusts a viewer into a therapy session between Hopper Gibson and his “mental coach,” Dr. Mobley. Hopper (Simmons) is a young major league pitcher from Florida. His career is in trouble after he has a meltdown during a game. Mobley (Paul Giamatti) is a heavy-hitting sports psychologist who will lead Hopper on a journey to his past. Writer-director Noah Buschel (he was behind the Corey Stoll boxing drama “Glass Chin”) has crafted an odd little film that is sometimes compelling, sometimes maddening. Most scenes appear to consist of only two actors on screen, talking, which gives the film an overly stagy quality. On the other hand, a lot of those scenes work.

Hugh Laurie and Tom Hiddleston are outstanding in this spy thriller based on John le Carré’s best-selling spy novel that follows hotel manager Jonathan Pine (Hiddleston) in his quest to bring down international arms dealer Richard Roper (Hugh Laurie). After being recruited by a British intelligence officer to infiltrate Roper’s inner circle, Pine is thrust into a world of international intrigue – but in his quest to do the right thing, Pine must first become a criminal himself. Two-disc sets with all six unrated episodes, as originally aired on the BBC.